And, so, the Soumak Pouch Weave Along draws to a close with a very long video on finishing techniques.

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Here are the chapters in the final installment:

1- Steam, Press and block the finished weaving

2- Overcast the straight edge of the inside front of the pouch

3- Making the point for the tip of the pouch

4- How to do the chain stitch embroidery

5- Cut out a lining

6- How to stitch the lining to the pouch invisibly

7- Stitch the side seams

8- Sew on the snaps

9- Stitching the edging cords to the pouch – in the video, I show how to add things like large beads at the ends and center of the cord, as well as the swivel clip hook. I also show how to stitch size 8 seed beads to the edging to embellish it. You don’t have to add these extra flourishes, but I thought that it made sense to show you how to do it so you ~could~ do it, if you want to.

It’s the embellishments that make the pouch the truly individual statement of your creativity!

The video for Part 4 of the Soumak Pouch Weave Along is a really big one because it’s the ‘how to’s’ for the actual weaving of the pouch.

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Here’s what’s covered in this video:

How to weave the 4:2 Soumak border

How to weave the 2:1 body of the pouch

How to add more weft yarn when you run out

How to add new colors

How to change colors and make perfect joins between the color blocks

How to step colors sideways in an outward direction

How to step colors sideways in an inward direction

How to work horizontal stripes

How to do the ‘Topsy Turvey Trick’ with the Mini loom

How to remove the weaving from the Mini

Please note that the pouches are woven with 1 strand of the yarn from the Mirrix Kit, or 2 strands held together, of the Lion Brand Bonbon yarn

When I went through the video after the final rendering, I smacked my hand to my forehead a couple of times as my directional challenges clearly pop up in the video- arghhhhhhhhh………. several times, I call the left hand side of the loom, the ~right~ hand side. arghhhhhhh

And, at one point, I called the weft, ‘warp’…………. oh sigh…………. so please forgive me for the errors.

Luckily, pretty quickly, I do say the ~correct~ thing. But still……….. arghhhhhhhhhhhh………….

And, no, I am not willing to re-shoot the video….. there are days and days and days of shooting, and so I am not going back to do it again.

Said in the nicest possible way, with really the minimum of snarls and snaps. 😀

Anyhow…. I hope that you will have a WONDERFUL time weaving your pouches!

Without further ado, here’s the video: (bugs and all- and dogs barking and rain raining and thunder thundering…. the dogs were freaked out by the lighting and thunder, so they were indulging in a LOT of vocalizing about the bad bad sky!)

I am sure that everyone who is participating in the Soumak Pouch Weave Along wants to create a finished piece that is completely unique.

So, that’s why I am sharing a few design notes.

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In Part One of the Weave Along LINK I posted my design for the Soumak Pouch.

How did I come up with this design, and how can you make it be a reflection of your personality?

I started the design process by thinking of the rug that was in my grandmother’s dining room when I was a little girl:

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I spent many a happy hour on that carpet, when I was a child, playing with my cousins.

The flowers became a deeply ingrained part of my ‘pattern language’.

So, when I was designing the pouch, it was natural to look at the flowers in the carpet and see if there was a starting point there.

Indeed there was, and I sketched and played with variations on carpet flowers:

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I traced out lots of copies of the prototype pattern.

I find that tracing the pattern by hand is better for me than scanning and printing the pattern.

When my hand and eyes are quietly engaged in tracing the design, then connections are made that are really helpful in making creative leaps.

I choose aquarelles (watercolor pencils) that matched my weft colors.

Then, I colored lots and lots of variations on the theme, playing with combinations of colors and trying to push myself to use the weft colors in ways that I might not have considered.

I also would make little sidebar colorways when I was uncertain about a specific motif in the pattern.

And, then, when I was happy, I started weaving.

As I wove the prototype pouches, I discovered a few things: OOPS! The weaving contracts when it’s released from the loom, so it NEEDS a header and footer beyond the pattern!

Also, I felt that making the pattern more geometrical would make it more weaver-friendly, so I re-designed the pattern to make it conform more closely to the warp strands:

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I felt constrained to stick to using only the colors of yarn that were in the various kits and packages supplied by the yarn companies.

I didn’t mix and match, BUT… you can feel totally free to use yarn from your stash to personalize your pouch.

The only exception to the ‘no stash’ rule that I was following was that, for the black and white checkered pouch, I did pull white wool from my stash (well, my daughter in law’s stash to be perfectly honest… bless her for her donation to the cause ❤ and 😀 )

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

In this photo, you’ll see that I traced the pattern onto graph paper (4 squares to the inch or 2.5 cm).

(The photo of the pouch at the beginning of this post was woven with the Mirrix Soumak Pouch Kit yarns and this colorway.)

Graph paper is the top of the list of my favorite design tools…. it’s a weaver’s very good friend indeed!

Playing with graph paper allows you to try out all manner of interesting things.

So, in a nutshell, what are the key points of designing a unique project?

1- Look for a starting point in something that you love or are inspired by.

2- Be willing to make mistakes and to start over

3- Trace, don’t print the extra copies of the design.

4- Use colors in ways that you might not usually consider when you are experimenting with your coloring pages.

BUT… if you have signature colors, then, of course, feel free to use them.

5- Make multiple color combination sidebars if you are uncertain about a part of the design.

6- Use graph paper to work out colorways and patterns.

7- The ways that you choose to embellish your pouch will make your pouch TOTALLY unique, as the finishing and embellishment techniques are incredibly expressive 🙂

I hope that you are going to have a wonderful time, weaving one of a kind pouches for your business cards and cellphone, or using it in any way that appeals to you.

If you would like to join in the conversation, you can leave comments here on this blog,

as well as on the Mirrix facebook page LINK and the Mirrix Ravelry page: LINK

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I will be demonstrating on the Mirrix 12 inch, 8 inch and 5 inch Mini, which is a totally magical little loom.

Because of the small (but oh so perfect) size of the Mini, I have had to come up with some fairly ‘outside the box’ ways of working with it for the weave along- which certainly add to the functionality of this delightful little loom!

Several people have asked me if they can participate in the Weave Along, even though they don’t have Mirrix looms.

Yes, you can- in the first video, I have shown how to attach the cartoon to a Cricket Rigid Heddle loom.

If you have a tapestry loom that won’t accept the extra rods for the ‘no warp ends’ technique, then just warp it up in the normal way.

You won’t have the ‘no warp ends’ technique that the weave along is based on, but you can just finish your ends in the way you usually do.

HOW WILL THE WEAVE ALONG WORK?

I have made six video tutorials and one slide show (so far) for the Weave Along.

I will be posting installments of the Weave Along every Sunday and Wednesday from September 2, 2012 to September 23, 2012.

BUT… you don’t have to keep up with this pace…. you can follow along at your own speed, as the blog posts are going to be here for as long as Tottie still Talks Crafts! 😀

I have covered a TON of information, and some of the videos are very long.

To make them as user friendly as possible, I have made chapter headings for each segment of the videos.

This means that you can stop the video and move back or forward to review anything you want to, at any time in the video.

Here’s what the chapter headings look like:

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So, without further ado, lets get started!

Here is the pattern for the Soumak Pouch:

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Print the pattern so that it is 3 inches wide and 10 inches long.

Print several copies.

One of the Weave Along participants, Penny from Boulder, Co, made a pdf of the pattern, and Elena posted it to the Mirrix site.

Here’s the link to that, if you are having trouble figuring out how to print a copy of the pattern: LINK

Tottie Talks Crafts Blog · Noreen Crone-Findlay talks about the crafts she loves with her friend, Tottie Tomato. They'll be sharing tutorials, how to's and step by steps for spool knitting, crochet, doll making, small loom weaving, wood working, paper crafts and all manner of other fun crafts. This is a family friendly blog.